Santiago de Cuba railway station

Santiago de Cuba
*(Santiago de Cuba General Senén Casas)*
Santiago de Cuba ; (Santiago de Cuba General Senén Casas)
Ferrocarriles de Cuba
	View of the station platforms from the concourse
General information
Location	Paseo de Martí and Av. Jesús Menéndez; Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
Coordinates	20°01′51″N 75°50′03″W / 20.03093°N 75.83426°W
Owned by	National Government
Line(s)	Havana-Santa Clara-Camagüey-Santiago ; Santiago-Guantánamo ; Santiago to San Luis-Bayamo
Platforms	4 (at-grade)
Tracks	8
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Platform levels	1
Parking	yes
Accessible	Yes
History
Rebuilt	1997
Electrified	no

Santiago de Cuba, also known as Santiago General Senén Casas, is the main railway station of the city of Santiago de Cuba, seat of the homonym province, Cuba. It is owned by the state company Ferrocarriles de Cuba (FFCC) and is located in the central Paseo de Martí, nearby the city harbor.^{[citation needed]}

It is the second most important stations of Cuba and, along with Havana Central, Camagüey and Santa Clara, is a network's divisional headquarter.^[3]

History

OSM map of the station and surrounding area,
including the railway siding to the nearby harbor

The station, named after the Cuban politician Senén Casas Regueiro, was completely renewed and rebuilt in 1997.^{[citation needed]} The old station, located nearby harbor's custom office, is the terminal of harbor's rail siding.^[4]^[5]

Structure

Santiago station is a terminus composed by a large and modern building, covered with 2 vaults and counting a modern clock tower in the adjacent garden. In south, parallel to station tracks, is located a large shed and siding serving the harbor. A secondary shed is located in the Avenida Los Pions.^{[citation needed]}

The station lies in Los Pinos ward (reparto) and the line, counting a double track, is not electrified. The double track route Santiago-San Luis is used also for trains linking Santiago to Bayamo and Guantánamo. A junction, departing from the nearby village of El Cristo and arriving to La Maya (on the line to Guantánamo), was only partially built.

Services

The station is the main eastern rail terminus, like the Havana Central is the main western one. It is served by several long-distance trains linking almost the whole island, including the flagship Tren Francés (French Train) Havana-Santa Clara-Camagüey-Santiago. Other long-distance trains, principally departing/ending at Havana Central, link Santiago to Matanzas, Ciego de Ávila, Las Tunas and other cities.^[6]^[7] There are also some inter-regional and regional trains to Palma Soriano, Bayamo, Manzanillo, Guantánamo and Holguín.